Wednesday, February 25, 2009

I love cookbooks. I have a very large shelf of them and enjoy sitting down, flipping through them, and thinking about ingredients and flavours. I recently bought two new ones and thought I would share.First, I picked up Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. This books employs new methods to draw out maximum flavour from the grain. The breads do take some time to make, but my experience has been is that it is always worth it. Since my bakery customers prefer whole wheat breads I thought I would try to expand my repertoire. Now, I am not sure how this is legal, but Google Books has an almost complete digital copy of the book if you want to check it out.Second, I got the BALL Complete Book of Home Preserving. As the blurb says, the book contains "400 innovative and enticing recipes include everything from salsas and savory sauces to pickling, chutneys, relishes and of course, jams, jellies, and fruit spreads, such as: Mango-Raspberry Jam, Damson Plum Jam Crab Apple Jelly, Green Pepper Jelly Spiced Red Cabbage, Pickled Asparagus Roasted Red Pepper Spread, Tomatillo Salsa Brandied Apple Rings, Apricot-Date Chutney." Aside from a few canned meat recipes (blech), everything in the book is vegan. In my ideal world I would live off the grid, growing all my own food and snubbing anything with a UPC. Until then, I just have to make due with this book.

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comments:

I heard about your blog and decided to google it. It's pretty awesome! And I must say that I have been wanting to get both of those books for a few months now. As a broke college student, I was hoping to get them for Christmas. No dice. Oh, and I give you bonus points for your ideal world... which is also my ideal world... which is a pretty awesome world IMO.

I just made 3 recipes from the Ball Home Preserving Book - Habanero Gold, Roasted Red Pepper Spread, and Gingered Zucchini Marmalade. All turned out perfectly! Hint - many of the jelly recipes call for liquid pectin, which I can't find in NYC. There IS a way to substitute powdered pectin though!

I love the Ball Canning book. I checked out a few others from the library, but I've tossed recipes down the drain because the slightest thing makes me fear botulism. I've never been suspicious of ANYTHING I've made out of the Ball book. The directions are precise, instructions cover food safety. It is a good book to have...

I love your blog, my partner discovered it a couple of months ago and it has inspired his inner vegan chef, our meals have been much more exciting....thanks :) Just wondering if you have any suggestions for a good book on sourdough breads, and alternative grains like Kamut, and spelt? My oldest son doesn't do yeast or regular wheat well, and he is vegan. We live in Calgary and 6 dollars for a loaf of decent bread, gets to be a lot with two hungry boys around. I've started baking my own, very hit and miss.